Short stories, poems, book reviews, travelogues and everything that touches the heart.

Thursday, 22 January 2015

In search of a pesticide

The
day Ayub was born, his parents had thrown one big ball of waste
weighing 8 pounds on this planet. That ball grew up to become a six
footer and seventy five kilograms young man. The ball of waste
continued to regenerate waste which was much more than that generated by him during his visits to
the toilets.

Ayub
doesn't believe in using the dustbins. The other day when he
discarded a chocolate wrapper in his office, one of his colleagues
asked him to pick it up and throw it in the bin. But Ayub proudly
claimed that he was an Indian and his behaviour was nothing but
Indian. Ayub gave his colleague a piece of mind and asked him not to
expect firangi behaviour (which was actually sophisticated behaviour)
from his countrymen.

It
is not that Ayub is an uneducated man. Ayub is a highly qualified
professional who draws a fat pay cheque every month and warms up his
equally expensive chair as well. As a student Ayub was good in
studies. However when the teacher taught good habits and asked the
students not to litter, Ayub had ignored the advice. He was too
intelligent to follow it. Even when the prime minister of the country
appealed to the countrymen to keep our motherland clean, Ayub knew
that call was not for him. Ayub felt it served as a plank for those
who were hungry for publicity. It was only for those socialites who
held broom only for posing in front of the shutterbugs. It was
another story that Ayub had never held a broom in his hand even for
the purpose of posing for a photo.

Cats
and dogs can urinate anywhere. Can you stop them? Can you fine them?
Is the question Ayub asks when he stands and relieves himself as and
when his bladder is full. It is the call of nature says Ayub and doesn't
mind relieving himself in the garden or in the protected monument.
Thanks to people like Ayub the protected monuments carry rancid
smell. I wonder if the protected monuments have been protected only
for people who don't mind leaving their mark on the reel of time.

Ayub
is a waste generator. He owns the most swanky car. He throws waste
like tissues, wrappers of burgers, plastic bottles on the roads when
he is driving. He has a reason to do so. According to him he is a tax
payer. Indirectly he is paying for those sweepers of the municipal
corporations. Ayub is well aware that these days the sweepers are
paid well. So as Ayub is paying their salaries, he has right to
litter. This litterbug has infected a large section of the Indian
population. I stop now as I am working on a pesticide to kill this
litterbug.

About Me

Mahesh Sowani is a writer, poet, book reviewer, speaker and a legal professional. He holds masters degrees in Law and Management. He has also passed the National Eligibility test conducted by the University Grants Commission. He was a faculty member for Master of Laws course at University of Mumbai. He has keen interest in yoga, meditation, English literature and financial management. Many of his writings have been published in leading English and Marathi publications like Hindustan Times, Outlook Traveller,Writer's enzine, Sniffers, Reviews, Maharashtra Times, Yuva Sakaal, Kalnirnay etc. His writings have been published on websites like adviceadda.com. He writes on his blog https://maheshsowani.blogspot.inMany of his writings have been conferred titles and prizes by blogadda.com, indiblogger.in and mouthshut.com. His writings have been a part of the short story anthology "Love stories around us" and collection of poems "Winged Hearts."